Life Is Pain
by jsnyder1998
Summary: For some people the will to live is as fleeting as a summer breeze. Tragedy can lead to the end of one's existence or it could be the start of a new one. Percy Jackson unfortunately will have to find this out the hard way. Disclaimer - I don't have any rights to any of Rick Riordan's wonderful Characters.
1. Prologue

"Pain, pain is the only thing I can feel anymore. Pain so crushing, so mind numbing that it is a miracle that I haven't gone insane by now. Am I insane? I honestly don't know but if I had to venture a guess I am. In fact now that I think about it, how could I not be insane? I am stuck in the one place that even the gods won't venture into lest they lose themselves. I am stuck in the depths of Tartarus and all I can think is how foolish I have been, how naive I was to trust her. So how could I not think it was just another hallucination when I see someone standing over me with a look of pity as silver tears run down his face? Another trick by my captors to give me false hope of being rescued before they tear it all away. It's been over a thousand years since I was thrown down here. A thousand years of torture that not even the world's worst mad man could come up with. After all, what is there to fear when you are torturing your prisoner in a place where they can't die? The Olympians in their petty, narrow mindlessness surely have forgotten about their hero by now and all of my friends would be long gone. Yet even though I know that it is all a trick I can't help but hope that this is real, that finally after all of the pain I have gone through I could finally be free. Before I slip into the sweet relief of unconsciousness I manage to croak out of my parched throat one word, "help."


	2. Artemis

Five long years have passed since two of our greatest heroes went missing. We know that they aren't dead because Hades has reassured us that their souls are nowhere to be found in the underworld. We searched high and low for our heroes after the battle with Gaia but they were nowhere to be found.

Suddenly I am snapped out of my thoughts as my father brings the council meeting to a start with a mighty blast from his master bolt. As the thunder rolls around the council chamber I can't help but roll my eyes and mutter, "drama queen." Apparently I was not as quiet as I thought because both Apollo and Hermes both start chuckling under there breaths while Athena just scowls and flares at me. As the meeting rolls on I can't help but let my mind wonder as to where Percy Jackson and his girlfriend Annabeth Chase could have disappeared to. Even I the goddess of the hunt couldn't track them which has frustrated me to no end.

After a while I manage to wrestle my wondering thoughts back the ongoing council meeting and can't help but notice how depressed everyone seems and I know it's because of the disappearance of the world's two greatest heroes. Since they disappeared I have noticed, to my surprise, that Hera, who has long been renowned as a demigod hater, also has been depressed. Which just goes to show how much they were liked. Poseidon is the worst out of all of us. Perseus was his favorite son and since he vanished Poseidon has slipped into a huge depression and his domains show it. The oceans are a dull color, almost to the point of grey and there are no waves crashing upon the beaches. The oceans of the world are as flat as the lakes that are found in the wilderness. My gaze then moves over to Athena. She has always been one to bottle down her emotions and not let anyone get close to her, but ever since Annabeth vanished she has become cold to everyone and very short tempered. Now all that graces her face are heavy eyed scowls, which show the true extent of her Misery and exhaustion.

As I finish making my observations I notice that the meeting is drawing to a close. We have finally reach the last topic of the day and my father asks if anyone has seen or heard anything about our missing heroes. Hades steps forward like he has every month and declares that their souls still can't be located anywhere in the underworld after combing it thoroughly. I then step forward and give my report about the monsters I have hunted and the places I have searched with no avail. After I finish giving my report Apollo steps forward. He describes how he has searched for the missing heroes while riding his chariot through the skies, but he hasn't been able to locate him. He also reports that his oracle has not issued any prophecies concerning them.

Finally after all the gods have given their report Zeus asks if anyone else has anything important to report. After a moment of silence we hear a powerful voice speak out. "I have something to say about the whereabouts of your missing heroes," the voice said.

Suddenly a portal opened in the throne room and a man that radiates an aura so powerful that I could see even Zeus was struggling not to fall on his knees steps through with a person slung over his shoulders. After the portal closes up behind him Zeus thunders out, "who dares disturb the council of the gods!"

The man ignores my father and proceeds to set the man down whom I just noticed was unconscious. After he lays him down I can tell that everyone is intrigued by the man lying on the floor. As I look at him I can't help but notice that he must have had a nice body at some point, but it is so covered with sores and scares that even now a puddle of blood is slowly starting to form around him. I can see from my throne that some of the scars look like writing etched deep into his skin, but I can't make out what it says from here. Finally my eyes move to his face and I can't stop thinking that he looks so familiar. He has long, greasy black hair that I believe would look very nice once it was cleaned.

Suddenly I am startled out of my thoughts by my sister jumping forward and kneeling in front of the boy with tears streaming down her face. I can see her checking his vitals and suddenly she yells, "Apollo get your lazy ass off of your throne and come help me save Perseus's life!" As soon as she says his name I can see all of the gods faces turn to shock and then on some a look of horror and on others a look of extreme anger. Apollo then dashes out of his throne and proceeds to do his absolute best to save Perseus from his dastardly wounds. After he heals about the third wound I notice tears starting to pour down his face and in a moment of rare compassion, I decide to help my younger twin.

As I get closer to Perseus I start to see the full extent of his injury and I can't help but gasp at the sight. His clothes are in tatters and I can't see a single patch of skin that isn't marred by scars and open, festering wounds. Through all of my years as a goddess I have never seen a person so mutilated. As I take in the full extent of his injures I can't help but wonder where has he been all this time and how has he managed to survive what I can only assume was brutal torture.

Finally after just standing there for a few minutes in shock at the sight of the mutilated body my brother notices me standing there and asks me to help him by making sure that Perseus's vitals stay strong while he heals him. I agree and kneel beside the beat down hero and swore to myself that he would not die as long as I had anything to say about it.

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**Authors Note: Thank you for reading my story. If you notice any grammer errors or spelling errors please feel free to write me a review. Until next time, Jsnyder1998**


	3. Apollo

After I got my sister to watch Perseus's vitals, I turned back to the task of making sure that he would survive all of the festering wounds that covered his body. How he has not died of infection was a wonder in and of itself. I could only assume that wherever he was being held was keeping him alive because there is no natural way he could have survived. I shuddered as I thought about what his mental health would be like after all this time.

As I healed wound after wound I couldn't help but start to grumble that my work was being made all the more harder by the fact that there were still knife tips and other debris stuck beneath the scabs. To add to that, most of the scars had poison pockets underneath them, so I had to reopen the wounds in order to clean them out so the poison would not have any lasting effect.

After about an hour of working on trying to heal all of Perseus's wounds, his skin was starting to turn pale from blood loss and I knew that if I didn't do something quick he would bleed out right in front of me. As I was cursing my inability to use my awesome powers to their full extent due to the nature of the wounds I suddenly I remembered that Perseus had the ability to heal in water.

Cursing my stupidity, I quickly told Poseidon to summon a wave of salt water to aid Perseus in healing. Poseidon leaped at the opportunity to help his favorite son but I doubted that even he could have predicted what would happen as soon as the water just touched Perseus's skin.

As soon as the water touched his skin it turned a sickly green color and his flesh began to smoke and sizzle, as it was slowly being burned away as if the water was acid. Immediately Perseus started to flail about while screaming in absolute agony.

His shrieks of pain were what knocked me out of my shocked reverie and I immediately screamed to remove the water. I watched as Poseidon tried, but it appeared as if what was once water is no longer under his control. Immediately I summoned a bunch of towels and proceed to wrap him up in them to soak up the foul liquid. As I did I noticed that what I had thought to be a scar was now glowing a sickly sea green color and it appeared as if Perseus was trying to rip the scar from his body.

Once all of the acid like substance had been removed I decided to look closer at the scar. After a closer look I can see that what I once had thought was a scar was in fact a curse and that he had multiple curses that have been put upon him. Once I had finished my observation I decided to get back to healing Perseus.

After a moment of debate I decided that I could not do anything more to help Perseus while he was bleeding out in the throne room so I decided that I needed to take him to my temple where I could monitor him closely. Before I flashed away I told everyone, "I am taking Perseus to my temple and will notify you all when he is stable."

After I got to my palace I quickly hook Perseus up to a heart monitor and set him up with an I.V. and blood drip. I knew that if I didn't get his blood levels back up and soon then he would bleed out on the table before I was even done cleaning out all of the wounds.

After I got Perseus stabilized I started to finish the daunting task of cleaning and healing his wounds. All the while I wondered what could have caused such gruesome wounds and how did a mortal manage to survive them. Suddenly I am startled out of my reverie by a scream of pain echoing across Olympus. As the scream fades Perseus wakes up with a gasp.

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**Thanks for reading this chapter in Life Is Pain. As Always if you notice any spelling or grammer problems please feel free to write a reveiw. in the meantime Jsnyder1998 sighning off.**


	4. Zeus

Once my son had left to take care of that troublesome son of my brother I turn my attention to the stranger that had brought Perseus to us. As my gaze falls upon him I can't help the involuntary shiver that runs down my spine as I remember the power that radiated off of this being. The only beings that should posses that kind of power should have faded a long time ago.

Deciding that I must have been imagining exactly how strong the aura coming off of this stranger I repeated what I said when he first showed up, "Who Dares to disturb this council." To my absolute chagrin the stranger just starts to chuckle at my question. Who was this being that dared to laugh at me. If I didn't start getting some answers soon I will smite this person off of the face of Olympus.

As if this person could read my mind all of a sudden the chuckling stopped and the mirth that had been in his eyes was replaced with a cold fury that sent shivers down my spine. Refusing to be intimidated in my own council room I say, "If you are going to just stand there laughing like a maniac then I will smite you myself. You would be wise to pay proper respect to this mighty council and especially its king."

At my words the stranger finally decided to speak, "Who I am is of little importance you insignificant speck. I chose to deign your council with my presence not because of your insignificant power but because I couldn't stand hearing a strong mortal such as Perseus crying out to be saved and your in your finite power not being able to hear him. The fact that you decide to insult the person that was able to do what you yourself could not is just further proof of your arrogance. You would be wise to start curbing that arrogance of yours before someone who is more powerful than you decides to do something about it."

At his words I can feel my face becoming flush with anger, how dare this person insult me and claim that I am weak. I am the strongest Olympian. I am the most powerful being in this universe. With these thoughts running through my head I decide that action must be taken. I can't let this person insult me without repercussions. With this in mind I thunder out, "Not only do you refuse to pay proper respect to your superiors but now you decide to insult me. I can not let this stand. Do you have any last words, such as a plea for mercy, before I smite you down."

Astonishingly, Instead of begging for mercy like I expected the stranger just starts laughing hysterically. In between his laughing he manages to say, "Are you really so arrogant as to think that you could kill me? You can take your best shot Zeus but know this, if you do you will live to regret it. You not only will fail to kill me but you will set of a chain of events that will lead to you fading. It might not be now, hades it might not even be for a thousand years but you will fade and as you do you will know that it is because of the actions that you decide to take at this moment."

The words that this stranger said roll around in my head as I remember the power that I first felt when he appeared. I decide that they are just that, words. Shrugging them off I say, " Very well, your final words have been heard. Even if they are just the ramblings of a mad man."

With those final words I throw my mighty bolt at the stranger intending to destroy him once and for all.

As I release my master bolt my vision suddenly goes black and images start flashing through my mind. Striking down my father and then turning on my brothers so that I can take on the mantel of king. Me forcing Hera to marry me even though she held no love for me. Forcing myself upon thousands of women and then tossing them aside like trash while they are bearing my children. Killing my brothers kids so that they wouldn't be able to rise to power and take the throne from me with their fathers.

Suddenly my vision switches from the past to the future. I see my family start turning away from me one by one. I see a massive field filled with fire where a giant battle is raging, worse than the one we just went through. I see my family all fall around me to a being cloaked in shadows. I see myself fighting this figure and suddenly being overwhelmed as the figure decapitates me.

As sudden as the visions started they stop and I see my master bolt traveling towards the stranger. Strangely instead of fear I see a look of pity on his face as if he knew what I had just seen. As my bolt hits him an explosion of power erupts that I realize I have experienced before. Falling to my knees I start crying because I knew that I had just doomed my family to the fate that I had seen in my visions.

As I am kneeling there crying I hear a voice that sounds like a whisper in the wind. I know immediately that I am the only one that hears this message, "There is still some hope for your family Zeus. While your fate is sealed you stand a chance of saving everyone else based upon the choices that you make from this point onwards. I am not heartless. I have brought your family the method of their survival if you can manage to gain his trust. This will not be easy though, he has experienced more trials than you can imagine and it has left him a shell of the man he use to be."

With this message in mind I quickly flash out of the council room. I can't let my family see me in such a state of suffering. My pride will not allow it. I will have time to dwell on the choices I have made later but right now as I sit in my temple all I can think about is how my family was slaughtered before my eyes while I could do nothing to stop it. At that moment I vowed that I would do whatever it took to keep my family safe. Even with this resolution in mind I can't stop the primal scream that escapes my throat and echoes across all of Olympus.

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**I hope that you enjoyed this chapter, as always if you notice any spelling or grammer issues please feel free to review. Until next time, Jsnyder1998 signing off.**


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